Silence In The Skies
by A Once Told Story
Summary: Part 1 in the Silence Trilogy. A strange noise is disturbing Berk, coming from across the sea at night. Hiccup and the Riders decide to go and investigate, but things take a turn for the worse when Hiccup and Toothless go down in a storm. They crash on an uninhabited island where they must fight to survive and get to the mysterious noise that is somehow bothering Toothless.
1. Noise

I

**Noise**

Hiccup had half expected that he would not get any sleep this night either. He lay on his bed, twisting and turning to find a comfortable position, all the while pressing the fabric of his blanket into his ears to shut the noise out. But no matter how much he tried, the noise still broke into his dreams. The noise held so much pain and sadness in it that his dreams darkened and turned into nightmares. It transformed a proud father into a vicious barbarian. It invaded a peaceful flight on the back of Toothless and had it end in disaster. Tonight, that was what had happened. Hiccup was almost glad that he could not sleep, for he did not long to get back to the world in his head where both he and Toothless were falling out of the sky with no hope of surviving.

Hiccup sat up in his bed, breathing heavily. He shook the horrible thoughts out of his head and scanned the room around him. It was pitch black with only a few rays of moonlight peaking through the gaps between the roof planks. The moonlight fell on the magnificent creature curled up in the corner. His black scales were even darker than the night he was named after, as if his skin swallowed any light that tried to illuminate it. Hiccup thought the dragon looked tense and realized that Toothless was not asleep. He had covered himself with his huge wings and pulled his legs in under him. The Night Fury, usually an impressive and intimidating sight, looked so very small. Hiccup watched him for a while before throwing the blanket aside. He carefully put his iron prosthetic leg down on the floor. Toothless' ears reacted to the almost inaudible sound and turned in his direction, but the dragon did not move. Hiccup walked over to him by the window and sat down next to his head. It surprised him that Toothless did not look at him.

"Hey, you okay, bud? Is the sound bothering you?"

Toothless opened his huge, green-glowing eyes and growled a reply. When Hiccup gently started scratching him behind the ear the dragon instantly relaxed a little. He moved his head closer to the boy's leg, touching it with his muzzle.

"It's okay," Hiccup said. "I can't sleep either with that going on."

He tried to prevent a yawn but instead it got so intense he got tears in his eyes. The yawn rubbed off on Toothless who gawked so much his retractable teeth peeked through the gums. Hiccup smiled tiredly and caressed the dragon right between the eyes, a spot he knew Toothless enjoyed him stroking. Through the roof window he could see the stars twinkling like little jewels scattered about the black canopy. He would have enjoyed any night like this one, but the noise prevented that. It wasn't very loud, just penetrating and powerful. This was the fifth night in a row that the noise had disturbed the Isle of Berk. For hours and hours it went on without stopping, from the last light of one day vanished until dawn broke on the next. People were beginning to suffer from loss of sleep – Hiccup and Toothless included. Usually the villagers would have geared up and gone after whatever was making the sounds by now and tried to stop it. But this was different.

The noise was coming from across the sea to the North, a part of the world from where nobody who had ventured there had ever returned. There were no inhabitable islands as far as any existing map could tell, and beyond that the waters were uncharted. Vikings spoke of legends that the end of the Earth lay not too far in that direction, and that any ship which sailed there would fall of the edge and never be seen again. No one from Berk had ever traveled that far, and no one planned on it. The idea of going after the source of the nightly noise was considered foolish and suicidal. However it had not been entirely unusual for the thought to cross Hiccup's mind over the last few days, but he had ignored it.

Hiccup heard a loud bang from downstairs and figured his father had given up on sleeping as well and was taking out his anger and tire on the dinner table. Since there was no longer any reason for Hiccup or Toothless to remain quiet in their room, Hiccup rose to his feet and stretched his back.

"How about we take a midnight flight?" he proposed the dragon. "It's quieter on the other side of the island."

Toothless immediately lifted his head with his ears up high and eyes glistening with excitement. With his eyes not yet used to the darkness, Hiccup fumbled his way back to the bed and pulled Toothless' leather saddle out from underneath it. Toothless wagged his tail when he saw the saddle, dragging the artificial tail fin across the uneven floor.

Hiccup laughed at the dragon's cuteness. "Careful with the fin, bud. It took me two days to make that."

With practiced hands Hiccup strapped the saddle onto the Night Fury's back and secured the straps around the legs. He had to tighten the girth a notch so that it would not move around when he sat in the saddle. Hiccup couldn't remember the last time he had to do that, but he did not worry himself about it. Toothless' weight went up and down like waves on a stormy sea depending on how much fish the village could spare for the dragons.

"It's been a few days since we last went on a fishing trip, you and me," he noted. Toothless looked at him hopefully and made a quiet growl that reminded Hiccup of a rumbling stomach. "I'll see if we can't spare the afternoon tomorrow and go to the Cove. I bet you'd love that."

The dragon made an attempt at a smile, his empty gums making him look so silly that Hiccup just had to laugh. After he attached the control rod from the stirrups to the tail fin, Hiccup fetched his fur vest and sat up in the saddle. He took a firm grip of the pommel and shot the end of his iron leg into place in the left stirrup, flicking it upwards to fold out the artificial tail fin. Eager as he was to get away from the tormenting noise still sounding through the village, Toothless spread his wings and took to the air through the window in the roof.

It was no surprise that the villagers were up and moving although the hour was late. Hiccup watched his neighbors go about the business they would have usually tended to during the day, like cleaning out the stables and fetching water. Berk looked like a ghost town from far up in the sky were Hiccup swept by, with only the light of burning torches to illuminate the streets. As he and Toothless flew across the village towards the south of the island, they passed Town Hall. It should have been empty and closed at this time, but along with the rest of Berk it was crowded. A few dozen vikings had gathered outside the gates like a mob demonstrating for a common cause, and all the way up on Toothless back Hiccup could hear their calls. They complained about the noise, of course. Hiccup's father had come home the other night red in the face with self-control and utterly exhausted from having handled the masses throwing complaints and demands upon him to end their nightly torment. Hiccup only wished he could do something to help.

Even as they passed Buckle Cliff, a sharp rock face on the south-east coast, the noise diminished. Hiccup felt like a pressure vanished from his eardrums and his spirit was instantly lifted. If he had not known Toothless' body better than his own, he might not have felt the dragon's muscles flex and relax underneath him. Toothless too felt better without that noise hammering in his ears. As the pair reached their destination, a secret cave on the far side of High Peak Mountain where they would sometimes go to get away from their daily duties, Hiccup thought about how lucky he was. He had Toothless to carry him all the way around the island to get away from the noise, something only a handful of vikings could and only Hiccup had thought of so far.

Hiccup sat down on the very edge of the cave, letting his real leg dangle off the cliff. He took off his fake leg to let the injury rest against the cold rock. Even after two years the amputation still bothered him sometimes. He felt something against his back and soon he had Toothless head underneath his arm willing him with big eyes to scratch his ears. The Night Fury lay down behind Hiccup and pulled his tail up across the boy's knee to keep him from falling. No words could describe how naturally happy he was right now.

Hiccup yawned again. "You're good to have, buddy. The best, actually."

The dragon sounded like he was purring and Hiccup smiled. That's when his thoughts puzzled together and revealed the answer to all his problems. He _could_ do something to help – in fact he and the Dragon Riders were the only ones who did. They had dragons after all, and Hiccup had the sturdiest and fastest of them all to top it. They needed no ship that could sink or go over the end of the Earth to get to whatever was making the noise. If they could fly there and stop the noise at its source, Berk would be free of it and everybody could go back to getting the good night's rest that they all needed.

Hiccup leaned back against Toothless' chest, looking up into the starry sky as he went over the entire plan with the dragon. All that was left to do was get the rest of the Riders to come with him and, hardest of all, persuade his father to let him do it.

It wasn't long before Hiccup was asleep, curled up underneath Toothless' wing, dreaming about what adventure lay before him tomorrow morning.

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**Thanks for reading! Be sure to leave a review and tell me what you think, I enjoy reading them so much.**


	2. Departure

II

**Departure**

If Hiccup had known that he would have to wait for hours to talk to his father, he would have stayed in the secret cave and slept a while longer. He sat outside Town Hall, back leaned to a soothingly cool boulder, and watched Toothless roll around in the spring fresh grass. On his left the masses of vikings were shouting and discussing and almost climbing over each other to get into the building and talk to the chief. How they all still had the energy to complain after five nearly sleepless nights was beyond Hiccup's understanding. When finally the villagers seized their pointless nagging and left one by one, Hiccup elbowed his way through the remaining crowd into the building. When he got through he was almost shoved back out again by the boulder-like torso of Gobber.

"Nothing left to see here, folks," he shouted over the masses, pushing them backwards. He had not yet seen Hiccup. "Move out!"

When his attempt at getting Gobber's attention failed, Hiccup bowed underneath the man's huge arm, making sure to avoid the hook on the end, and sneaked into the hall. By the large, round table in the middle sat his father, looking larger and more muscular than ever with his enormous autumn fur hanging over his shoulders. It was partly made from skin from the head of a yellow Deadly Nadder. Hiccup would wish his father to get rid of it as it bothered Toothless, but the fur had been handed down through generations of Berk chiefs so Hiccup let his father keep it. Stoick heard his son come up behind him and turned to greet him with a warm but tired smile.

"What's the matter, son? Something going on?"

"Actually," Hiccup started, but stopped himself when he heard Gobber still trying to make some vikings leave the building. The large sword smith said a quick hi to Toothless as the dragon pushed passed him into the large wood-carved hall to join Hiccup inside. When Gobber had finally cleared the room and closed the doors behind him, Hiccup and his father were all alone besides Toothless.

He cleared his throat. "I have this idea that might just solve our night problems."

"You do?" Stoick said and a light went on in his eyes. "I'm all ears."

"Look, you might not like it, but just hear me out. The noise is coming from across the sea and we know that nobody would be foolish enough to travel there by ship. How about me and the Riders fly there? It'll take half the time and—"

"Out of the question," Stoick snapped, interrupting his son. "There's a good reason we don't sail to the North, son. We have no idea what's out there."

"I know the legend says that the end of the Earth is somewhere out there, Dad, but we'll be _flying_ — we can't fall off the edge while we're in the air."

"That's not what I mean," Stoick grunted and rose from his chair. "That noise could be anything. Thor's wrath and Loki's terror is in that sound. It could be the sound of Ragnarök itself for all I know. I'm not going to let my son and a bunch of kids go after it. It's too dangerous."

As Stoick came to a halt in front of Hiccup, expecting him to argue further and willing him silently not to, Hiccup tried to think of a better argument. He knew his father and the way the conversation usually went whenever Hiccup wanted something that Stoick did not. He had but one chance left to prove the value of his proposed quest.

"People need to sleep, Dad," he explained, trying to sound holdfast. "We can't go on living like this for much longer. You've seen the villagers — they're getting impatient."

Stoick sighed and sat down on the chair again, resting his head in his palm. His forehead was in wrinkles and his cheeks were turning red with annoyance building up inside him. "They're getting impatient, alright. But that's not your concern, Hiccup. You're not risking your life when we do not know the dangers. I won't allow it."

"You're being irrational, Dad, I can help—" Hiccup tried, starting to sound a little desperate, but he was silenced.

"Hiccup, you're not going and that's the end of this discussion! Now go away and leave me to do my work!"

Stoick's yell echoed through the hall along with the clatter of the chair he had just pushed aside, underlining the finality of his decision. When silence fell, broken only by Stoick's heavy breathing, Hiccup seemed to want to sink down onto the floor and hurt was in his eyes. The man saw how Toothless had pulled his ears backwards and flashed his teeth as if ready to defend Hiccup any second. Stoick realized that he had not shouted at his son like that in years, if ever, and immediately took a step backwards. He had let his frustration with the villagers and fret from lack of sleep go out over his own son, and it tore at his heart to have done so. However he did not take back his words. Hiccup gazed carefully at Toothless, as if the dragon could somehow help him change Stoick's mind. The Night Fury, no matter how much he wished otherwise, could only help the boy so much and this was beyond him. Hiccup had to think fast, for Stoick was now making for the door.

"I'm not a worthless twit anymore, Dad," he whispered, just loud enough for his father to hear. "I can take care of myself. Besides, I have Toothless. We fly over to Dragon Island all the time. How is this any different?"

His choice of words had stopped Stoick in his tracks, but they were just a little short on assurance to be convincing. Hiccup had hoped that he would not need to say what he was now going to say, but he was out of options.

"I promise that we will not engage anything or anyone in battle," he said with as much strength on his voice as he could muster. "We'll only see what is causing that noise and fly straight back to Berk."

His final card was on the table and now he waited. Toothless came up beside him, also looking at Stoick's hunched back by the door, waiting in silence for the hammer to fall. When it did, it was not what Hiccup had expected. When Stoick turned around he was not angry or intimidating or even uncertain. He looked his son straight in the eyes, one hand on the door to steady himself, with tired, almost teary eyes and a sad smile.

"Do I have your word?" he asked.

Hiccup couldn't help but stand up a little straighter, making up for the aura of strength and greatness that his father was currently unable to fill the room with. He always felt so empty whenever he and his father had an argument that ended badly, but it was also not every day that Hiccup won an argument either. He walked up to Stoick with open arms and was pulled into a loving embrace. They stood there a good long while, silently expressing every possible feeling of love and respect a father and son could ever have for one another in that single hug. When Hiccup finally pulled away from his father's huge arms they were both at the brink of crying.

"You have my word."

o–x=O=x–o

Astrid had packed her things in a bag light enough for her to carry on her own back so that she did not have to share the saddle with an awful lot of things. Her war axe was secured on top of the bag as well as a small but very effective tomahawk. A dagger lay in its sheath inside her left boot, a safety measure her mother had taught her. All in all, she was entirely battle-ready, no matter what Hiccup had said about them only going on this trip to '_find and observe_', as he had so intellectually put it. She sat in her saddle on Stormfly's back, using the tip of her boot to scratch the silvery blue dragon in front of the wing and watching Ruffnut and Tuffnut bicker about something one of them had packed or not packed, as was their usual routine before any mission that needed packing.

"Will you two stop it and be done already?" she finally called down to the two blondes. "We need to leave."

When they did not listen, instead starting to go head to head and hitting each other with their horned helmets, Astrid turned her attention to Hiccup. The dark-haired boy was securing the last of his gear, which was quite a lot compared to what he usually brought with him, onto a patiently waiting Toothless' saddle.

"Do you really need all that stuff, Hiccup?" Astrid asked.

Hiccup smiled at the very sound of her voice. "It's food for the journey. We'll need it. We have no idea how long we might need to fly and the dragons will want to eat on the way."

"Doesn't Fishlegs usually carry that on Meatlug?"

The mentioning of their big friend with the big brain and the even bigger heart made Hiccup feel a little disappointed. "He said he'd stay behind this time," he explained.

He had spoken to Fishlegs on his way from Town Hall to the Dragon Academy and told him about their plan. Fishlegs had been eager as ever to explore the unknown, although as always a little hesitant to face the dangers that may or may not come their way on the quest. Eventually he had decided that he and his beloved Gronckle, a lovely and loyal little thing (in dragon size that is) who he called Meatlug, would sit this one out in Berk. Hiccup did not blame him — who knew how far the Riders' dragons would have to fly before they even found somewhere to land? And as far as stamina goes, Meatlug was not the most long-winded one of them. Hiccup was just disappointed that their friend had not made it to the Academy to say goodbye or wish them luck.

A roar that rocked the arena pulled Hiccup back to the here and now. As he turned he saw that the twins had finally ended their pointless arguing and had already mounted Barf and Belch, their lime-green Zippleback dragon with the two heads with which it could just barely outsmart the twins. The roar belonged to Hookfang, the forth and biggest dragon in the current company. Snotlout tried in vain to get the Monstrous Nightmare to calm down so that he could fasten himself in the saddle. Astrid laughed and shot a comment at the prideful, black-haired miniature viking about how he might get a little more respect from Hookfang if he had not brought a massive load of stuff for him to carry. Hiccup smiled at their bickering and made sure his own packing would not fall off Toothless back mid-flight. The Night Fury cooed eagerly and motioned to the setting sun and the beautiful, fiery colors that painted the horizon.

"You're right, bud. It's time."

Hiccup mounted the dragon, hooked the rems between his flying vest and the saddle and shifted his metal leg to the correct starting position. Making sure that his fellow dragon Riders were all set and ready to fly, Hiccup gave Toothless a gentle clap on the head and the majestic Night Fury took to the air with powerful wing beats. With the sun on their left blinding them with the last light of day, the four teens and their dragons set their course due north into the ever darkening night.

They could still see the lights of Berk like a bundle of stars on the horizon behind them when the noise started again, making the night seem just a little less beautiful.

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**I'm sorry that this chapter is lacking action, but I felt it necessary to get the relationships I'm working with clear before I toss our hero duo into the darkness. Fear not I can promise you that the next chapter will hold far more suspense...**

**Don't forget to leave a review so that I know what you think of the story's potential!**


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